The blurb promised a 'look at the real people involved in TV reality shows’. But it wasn't. Play The Final Rehearsal was a one-man act with no sets, costumes or props besides a white bedsheet and a chair. The plot appeared to be about a self-pitying actor who simply couldn’t get his act together. He rehearses for a part in a competition that he has been participating in endlessly and never wins. He joins a Shakespearean company, plays bit roles for a while, moves on to other acting parts, gets dumped by his girlfriend and fired from his job. There were a few invisible characters with weird names that Pawan Kumar, the actor, director and playwright kept talking to. One seemed to be embedded in the floor at the rear end of the stage while another appeared to be a chair masquerading as a man or vice versa.

It was a strain in parts to understand his long monologues punctuated with blackouts especially as he kept turning away from the audience and had a slight lisp.

 Holding a group of theatre goers enthralled or spellbound for over an hour all by yourself takes tremendous talent, energy and material. The Final Rehearsal lacked all of these. Had there at least been an honest attempt to look at reality television and the people involved in it as promised it would have made  the whole exercise worthwhile. Reality shows are very often an affront to good taste and behaviour like the obnoxious MTV Roadies or My Super Sweet Sixteen on Vh1.

Except for a couple of references to ‘old judges’ who are unfair and a fervent plea to the audience at large to ‘vote for me please though I think I have forgotten my contestant number’, the play leaves the subject of reality television severely alone.

JP